MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE FLORIDA CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM:

Trainers: Dr. Marcia Griffiths-Prince, PhD

Duration: 1.25

This trainingprovides needed information and support to Florida’s professional child welfare stakeholders to support and facilitate the identification, expansion, and transfer of expert knowledge and best practices in child welfare case practice, direct services, management, finances, policy, and organizational development to child welfare and child protection stakeholders throughout Florida.

FAMILY CENTERED CHILD WELFARE PRACTICES:

Trainer: Dr. Marcia Griffith-Prince, Ph.D.

Duration: 2.5

These are questions that will be addressed in a dynamic and interactive session that encourages child welfare practitioners to rethink common ideas about families involved in the child welfare system.

This training is designed to enhance the day to day skills and vocabulary of child care professionals who provide direct care services to youth who are receiving Independent Living Services. The goal of the Department of Children and Families is to improve the success of foster youth transitioning into adulthood from the state's foster care system. Through the Department's Independent Living Program services and supports are provided to Florida foster youth leaving the state's dependency system to better prepare these young adults for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Every year, hundreds of young adults set out to establish themselves and their future in Florida's communities without parental guidance. Through the Independent Living Program, the Department works to provide these young adults with the assistance they may need to thrive.

ATTACHMENT AND BONDING, AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT:

Trainers: Dr. Marcia Griffith-Prince, PhD

Duration: 2.0

As a child protection professional, this training will enhance the skills and knowledge you need every day to understand and recognize attachment issues in abused children. The most important skill of being human is developing the capacity to form and maintain relationships. In this training, you will learn about the adverse and often permanent consequences that occur as a result of developmental interruptions related to abuse and neglect that occur within the first three years of a child's life. The child's ability to trust and attach to other people is damaged. Attachment to primary caregivers and others may be non-existent, inappropriate, or negative. This training will better prepare you to make timely referrals for diagnosis and counseling as well as support the placement stability needed to prevent future attachment breaks for our most precious resource.

During this training participants will:

·Define attachment

·Identify factors leading to attachment difficulties

·Recognize signs of poor attachment and adverse effects

·Learn to use “Cycle of Attachment” with children and families to facilitate healthy attachment

POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT TRAINING:

Trainer: Dr. Marcia Griffith-Prince, PhD

Duration: 2.0

Learn about a positive approach to working with young people while avoiding travel costs and registration fees. Introduction to Positive Youth Development, a new self-paced online course developed by the Family and Youth Services Bureau's National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, will familiarize staff with the theory and practice of PYD; as part of taking this training course's two modules, you'll learn:

·The internal and external influences that help young people thrive

·How to build individual strengths in youth

·How to create positive places for young people

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF SEPARATION AND LOSS ON YOUTH IN CARE

Trainer: Dr. Marcia Griffith-Prince, PhD

Duration: 2.0

The purpose of this training is to provide an opportunity for potential foster parents to understand the separation and loss issues that seriously emotionally disturbed foster children experience.

• Developing an understanding of these issues will help the foster parents help the children through the process in a therapeutic way.

• Understanding and accepting loss issues will assist the foster family in developing attachments to foster children.

• This training will also provide potential foster parents with an opportunity to gain insight into their own issues that may affect their ability to serve foster children in the most effective ways possible.

• Being aware of these issues will help foster parents determine which children they can work with best.